2022 Democratic Primary Recommendations

Early voting in the Texas Primary has started, you’ve got nearly 10 days of early voting left then election day so really no excuse not to cast a ballot. Whether or not you think Democrats have a chance at winning statewide positions like Governor, there are two really important seats with districts that Democrats can and should continue to hold. One of those is the Texas 28^th Congressional District which I’ve already written about and hope you’ll vote for Jessica Cisneros. The other seat is State Board of Education District 5 in which Rebecca Bell-Metereau is the excellent incumbent, she’s a career educator, a professor at Texas State University in San Marcos and a strong advocate for teaching historical truth and real science as well as replacing Texas’ high stakes testing which benefits the test making companies and not the students. Our children deserve the continued efforts of her leadership and scholarship.

In the statewide races the race for Governor has five candidates but the only one with a track record on public policy issues and running for election is Beto O'Rourke. O’Rourke had a strong run against Ted Cruz four years ago and is our best chance to beat whoever Republicans put up including the incumbent who is backed by corporate funds including the very power companies that he failed to hold accountable for last year’s statewide power outage during the snow storm. The power companies got off the hook and those of us who pay our electric bills were left holding the bag, many of us will be paying extra on our electric bills for many years to come in order to cover it.

There are three outstanding candidates for Lieutenant Governor and I’m siding with Mike Collier who has worked tirelessly for years working to unseat the unscrupulous incumbent. Collier ran for the spot previously and has built name recognition around the state. He faces Carla Brailey, a university professor and social justice advocate. Also running for the seat is Michelle Beckley who won a state house seat in District 65 in 2018 beating the Republican incumbent, she’s an advocate for expanding Medicaid in Texas and fixing the power grid among other widely supported Democratic priorities.

There are five contenders for the Attorney General nomination. Joe Jaworski made a strong impression on me when I had the opportunity to listen to his pitch and ask him questions. Jaworski is a practicing attorney in Galveston and has held various local political offices over the years. His platform includes starting a Civil Rights division within the Attorney General’s office to insure that Texans are able to count on the Office of the Texas Attorney General to protect civil rights in employment, education, housing, voting, the courts, physical access to accommodations and above all interaction with our criminal justice system.

Comptroller of Public Accounts is a position that most of us don’t even recognize but is a truly important job. Janet Dudding is a CPA who began her governmental accounting career with the Office of the State Auditor investigating allegations that governmental officials had embezzled taxpayer money or taken kickbacks. She’s spent her professional life holding government officials accountable to the citizens, not special interests. Dudding is ready to hit the ground running and deserves your support.

There are four contenders for Commissioner of the General Land Office provides funding for Texas public schools. Jinny Suh is a community organizer, former patent litigator, and when I spoke to her expressed her determination to use the office to protect the environment while expanding funding for education.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - February 16, 2022

Cisneros For Congress

Primary elections are an opportunity to choose a standard bearer for the values we hold. The March 1^st election features numerous such opportunities including half a dozen state wide offices and both congressional seats representing Guadalupe County. The 28^th congressional district which will cover the westernmost corner of the county is a strongly Democratic leaning district currently held by a 16 year incumbent who represents big money more than the people of the district.

For the second election in a row the incumbent is being challenged by Jessica Cisneros, an immigration attorney from Laredo who once was an intern in his Washington, D.C. office. In the last election she lost by a mere 4% and this time around she has much better name recognition. Ms. Cisneros is passionate about the need to reform our broken immigration system with which she is intimately familiar as the child of Mexican immigrants with family members on both sides of the border.

Ms. Cisneros is a strong advocate for addressing climate change and is endorsed by the “Texas Drought Project” because she recognizes that south Texas is one of the first areas that will suffer from higher temperatures and more erratic weather. When I spoke to her about her views on the issue she made clear that she recognizes that many on the district worry about jobs more than climate which is why she also reminds voters that green jobs are good paying jobs. Building and maintaining wind farms or installing and caring for solar panels is safer and healthier for the workers while paying just as well or better than oil and gas jobs. Drilling for oil and gas is a cyclical business so those jobs come and go often leaving communities in debt with damaged infrastructure like the roads that get beaten up by all the heavy trucks going up and down them. Solar and wind farms need constant attention so jobs are steady and numerous by comparison.

Jessica Cisneros is supported by “Justice Democrats” because she advocates for raising the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation so that workers never again see their earnings eroded by inflation while congress fails to act to restore their buying power. The last time minimum wage was raised was 2009 which makes this the longest period in history between adjustments. The buying power of minimum wage has fallen 21% since then. Had minimum wage kept up with inflation since 1968 it would now be well over $11 an hour. The incumbent has withheld support for raising minimum wage using the excuses dreamed up by his wealthy campaign donors.

24% of citizens in TX-28 didn’t have health insurance when the pandemic broke out, leaving our community particularly vulnerable to the global public health crisis. The average family with health coverage is spending $12,000 out of pocket on health care premiums and deductibles. The incumbent voted to weaken the Affordable Care Act, reducing the number of workers eligible for coverage and making long-term and comprehensive care more expensive. Ms. Cisneros believes that health care is a right, not a privilege. She supports single-payer, Medicare For All which would insure every American with comprehensive health care. Medicare For All would eliminate premiums and deductibles while expanding coverage to include dental, hearing, vision, and mental health, thereby lowering overall costs to families, small businesses, and government.

While Tannya Benavides holds similar positions she doesn’t have the experience that Ms. Cisneros has.

When early voting starts Tuesday February 14 I’ll be voting for Jessica Cisneros, I hope you will too.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - February 2, 2022

An Opportunity for a More Progressive Member of Congress

Late last year the Texas legislature, in its infinite wisdom and partisan contrivance, saw fit to redraw congressional district boundaries such that Guadalupe County is now split between the 15^th and 28^th districts. The 28^th congressional district encompasses the western most 30% of the county, north of I-10 the boundary is the Guadalupe River, south of I-10 the boundary follows FM 775 south for a bit then zig zags here and there until it hits the county line near Zuehl Crossing.

Since the 15^th congressional district will lean Republican Vicente Gonzalez has filed to run in a neighboring district that is more friendly to Democrats. The 28^th congressional district which included Guadalupe County until the 2011 redistricting cycle has been held by Henry Cuellar since 2006.

Democrats should remember that Cuellar refused to support the Affordable Care Act until some of the most important benefits were stripped out of it. I and many other local activists pounded Cuellar for months before he finally announced his support just days before the bill came to a vote, but not before he worked with a handful of other “conservative” Democrats to add a provision that explicitly banned insurance coverage for abortions. Considering that the Affordable Care Act had so much that would have benefitted the citizens of Guadalupe County and the rest of the 28^th congressional district Cuellar’s diffidence was maddening.

Henry Cuellar has long been known for his ties to Republicans, like when he hosted a fundraiser for U.S. Rep. John Carter in 2018. At the time, the Round Rock Republican was a top target for Democrats in their successful bid to take back control of the chamber that year. Cuellar also champions conservative causes and had an “A” rating with the National Rifle Association. In 2019, he refused calls to return donations from the group. The anti-tax group Club for Growth endorsed Cuellar in 2006, making him the first Democrat ever endorsed by the organization.

In a new campaign video Cuellar claims “I built the relationships to be effective, no matter who is in power, to deliver results for my district,” as photos run of the congressman and recent presidents.  Cuellar goes on to say “... That’s why I’m always able to get to the table where the important decisions are being made.”

Unfortunately his claims aren’t true as he has strongly opposed legislation to address the human causes of climate change even though Laredo’s water supply is the Rio Grande which has seen water levels falling for decades and is projected to dry up entirely by 2040. I’ve already mentioned his failure to champion the Affordable Care Act which could have brought medical care to many low income residents in the district. Cuellar has also shown no interest in raising minimum wage or protect unionization efforts of workers. While Cuellar certainly manages to get a seat at the table he uses it to benefit his wealthy campaign donors especially those in the oil and gas industry.

Just last week Cuellar’s home in Laredo and his office in Washington were raided by dozens of FBI agents who carried out numerous bags of evidence. Media reports say an unnamed law enforcement agent indicated the raid is connected to ties Cuellar has to Azerbaijani government officials and oil and gas industry executives there.

This time around he is being challenged for the Democratic nomination by two strong Latinas, Jessica Cisneros who nearly beat him in 2020 and Tannya Benavides.  I’ll tell you more about both of them next week.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - January 26, 2022